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This study aimed to carry out a literature review on the lean method, assessing its applicability in dentistry. The research has a bibliographic, descriptive, and retrospective scope. Thus, we selected scientific articles that addressed concepts on the lean method and dentistry. We researched the following databases: Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde (LILACS), Biblioteca Regional de Medicina (BIREME), Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), and Public MEDLINE (PubMed). We included, essentially, articles from the last 35 years (1987-2022) with abstracts (in English or Portuguese) that presented the following terms: “Lean Methodology” and “Health Management and Dentistry.” Worldwide healthcare has experienced an explosion in knowledge, innovation, and the ability to manage formerly fatal conditions. However, it is still far from the expected standard of quality, results, cost, and equity. Lean Methodology has been implemented in clinics, offices, and hospitals to attain improvements in dental and oral health service processes, resulting in significant advances in these, as well as in the quality of care and cost reduction for organizations. The Lean Method can be applied in dentistry since it can act in reducing waste, eliminating redundancies in activities, and increasing the safety of care.

Abstract Background: Data on the current situation of nuclear medicine practices in cardiology in Brazil are scarce. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has recommended eight "good practices" to minimize patients' ionizing radiation exposure during myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS). Objectives: To assess the adoption of the eight good practices in MPS in Brazil. Methods: Cross-sectional study with data obtained by use of a questionnaire. All hypothesis tests performed considered a significance level of 5%. Results: We observed that 100% of the nuclear medicine services (NMS) assessed do not use thallium-201 as the preferred protocol. Regarding the use of technetium-99m, 57% of the NMS administer activities above the threshold recommended by the IAEA (36 mCi) or achieve an effective dose greater than 15 millisievert (mSv). The abbreviated stress-only myocardial perfusion imaging is not employed by 94% of the NMS; thus, only 19% count on strategies to reduce the radioactive doses. Approximately 52% of the NMS reported always performing dose adjustment for patient's weight, while 35% administer poorly calculated doses in the one-day protocol. Conclusion: A considerable number of NMS in Brazil have not adopted at least six practices recommended by the IAEA. Despite the difficulties found in nuclear practice in some Brazilian regions, almost all obstacles observed can be overcome with no cost increase, emphasizing the importance of developing strategies for adopting "good practices" when performing MPS.